Fighting terrorism in public transport and energy COUNTERACT conclusions have been officially presented

Date

12 Mar 2009

On 3 March 2009, the final results of the COUNTERACT project (Cluster Of User Networks in Transport and Energy Relating to Anti-terrorist ACTivities) have been presented at a Final Conference in Brussels. This concludes a three-year research project, funded by the European Union under the Sixth Framework Programme within the Directorate-General for Transport and Energy. This project is coordinated by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP).

The project is split into three clusters looking at anti-terrorism security in the Energy, Freight and Passenger Public Transport Sectors.

The focus of the Passenger Public Transport Cluster, also coordinated by UITP, has completed targeted studies on the following topics:

Risk Assessment: this study has produced generic guidelines for conducting risk assessment in public transport networks, a ready-to-use tool for operators to help them identify weak points in their system and to prioritise investment. This is the first time that a risk assessment methodology has been specifically tailored to the public transport sector.

Security Planning: following on from the guidelines on conducting risk assessment, this report provides practical guidance on implementing or building on security plans to combat the potential impact of terrorist.

Public Awareness Campaigns: it is becoming increasingly common to engage with the travelling public in the fight against terrorism. This report includes guidelines for the successful execution of a public awareness campaign as well as a selection of best practice examples of previous campaign material.

Potential Terrorist Action – Decision Making: this study reviews the decision making processes by the involved agencies in the event of an incident of a public transport network, including the consequences, positive and negative, of the decisions taken. An indication of costs involved is included as well as identifying procedural and technical innovations which can aid the decision-making process.

The objective of these studies is to fill some previously identified knowledge and know-how gaps and to provide tools to Public Transport Organisations to prepare and respond to the terrorist threat.

“The Passenger Public Transport Cluster strived to provide practical guidance for Public Transport organisations who need to know what can be done to counteract terrorism and how to do it. Public transport security is achieved through a balance of procedures, people and technology. These three elements have been addressed by the Passenger Public Transport Cluster in the various Targeted Studies” said Geoff Dunmore, Operational Security Manager, London Underground and Chairman of UITP Security Commission.

The project partners were supported by a Thematic User Group, made up of security experts from Public Transport organisations across Europe. The Security experts for urban public transport came from the UITP Security Commission, a platform which has been active since 2004 to allow UITP members to exchange and work on the topic of security (www.uitp.org/security). For rail, the experts came from the COLPOFER platform which gathers rail operators and railway police from across Europe (www.colpofer.org).

UITP’s World Congress and Exhibition will be held in Vienna, Austria, 7-11 June 2009. The theme of the event is ‘Public transport: Making the right mobility choices’. For more information, visit www.uitp.org/vienna2009/.